Ron & Jen’s Great Escape, January 17, 2024 – Ron St. Pierre and Jen Brien

by Ron St. Pierre and Jen Brien, commentary

WHY DOES HOLLYWOOD RE-IMAGINE ANYTHING?

You know I really hate when business people treat us like complete morons as a whole. There are definitely morons out in this world along with racists, a-holes and evil people, but not ALL OF US are any of those things. Over the years Hollywood has stopped calling movies “re-makes”  instead telling  the public they’re “re-imagining” films for “a new generation”. OMG.

That is insulting. 

In any event, the latest mess comes from OPRAH who thought it would be a great idea to “re-imagine” A COLOR PURPLE… one of my favorite films of all time. 

When I heard this, I was blown away. Just, WHY??

Would anyone re-do “OUT OF AFRICA”… “LESS THAN ZERO”… “SIXTEEN CANDLES” ????  (Other fav films of mine)

The answer is NO. THEY are stand alone classics. Love ‘em or hate ‘em they represent a slice of cultural history that tells stories in an honest, raw, creative way the first TIME AROUND. Trying to capture that in a bottle again is futile. This is a different generation not connected to each other the way previous generations were. We all took a ride together when we watched those movies, and we were still plugged into our emotions – other than anger and entitlement. 

The world was spinning around us, but we got off the ride for 90 minutes to laugh with our friends and connect with crazy characters that touched something in us. 

This generation is too busy on tik tok getting indoctrinated by CHINA to go see your “re-imagined” messes of movies. 

Knock it off. It ain’t ever gonna’ work. 

The Little Mermaid

West Side Story

The Color Purple

Alfie

Robo Cop

Psycho.

DEATH WISH

BEN HUR

RED DAWN

… (I could go on, but my toast is ready) …BOMBED.

JUST STOP. Try something new… and if you’re out of ideas hit up AI. 

FRESH is where it’s at…

Till next week my friends, Jen

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GET OFF MY LAWN

You can count longtime NFL Head Football Coach Tony Dungy among those who aren’t fans of Taylor Swift’s “impact” on the NFL this season. Dungy, who guided the Indianapolis Colts to a win over the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI (and over the Pats in the AFC championship game), told Fox News the Swift effect “takes away from the on field action. That’s the thing that’s disenchanting  people with sports now. Entertainment value and different things taking away from what really happens on the field.”

Disenchanting people? 96 of the year’s top 100 watched programs were NFL games. Does Taylor Swift and Chiefs Tight End Travis Kelce’s romance have anything to do with those ratings? Who knows… but I doubt it hurts. We know sales of Kelce’s jersey since he hooked up with Swift are through the roof. Entertainment taking away from the game? How long does Dungy spend in the bathroom during the Super Bowl Halftime Show? Dungy is part of the dreadful NBC FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA pre and post game crew (let’s face it, ALL those things no matter what network SUCK) and I bet the producers heard his comments, shook their noggins’ and asked, “what are we gonna’ do with pop?” Even 71-year-old curmudgeon, Bill Belichick, when asked earlier in the year about the Kelce-Swift romance found entertainment value in it saying, “Travis Kelce’s made a lot of big catches in his career… this could be his biggest.”

FULL THROTTLE

The Red Sox will hold their WINTER WONDERLAND this coming weekend at the MGM Springfield and Mass Mutual Center with a little something missing. The Sox decision to scuttle the “Town Hall” portion of the event shouldn’t come as a surprise. Last January, owner John Henry, team president Sam Kennedy and then chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom were hooted, booed, and given the Bronx Cheer by fans in attendance although NESN skillfully edited out much of the negative reaction in its rebroadcast. Earlier this season Red Sox Chairman Tom Werner told reporters the Sox would be “full throttle” this off season after another last place A-L East finish. So far the Sox have traded their starting right fielder Alex Verdugo to the arch rival Yankees (where you know he’ll hit 30 homers) for a trio of minor league arms, moved the often injured Chris Sale to the Braves for infield prospect Vaughn Grissom (and the Sox paid almost all of Sales enormous salary) and signed free agent starter, Luis Giolito, who was 8-15 for THREE teams in 2023 while giving up an American League high of 41 home runs. “Full throttle?’… maybe on a dingy.

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Read all of Ron & Jen’s columns, here: https://rinewstoday.com/ron-st-pierre-jen-brien/

Ron St. Pierre is a veteran broadcaster whose career has spanned over four decades. Ron has programmed, performed on and managed WHJJ, WPRO, WWRX, 790 The Score in Providence, as well as WBZT and WKGR in West Palm Beach and WABC in New York City. Ron also anchored sports on WPRI Ch 12 in Providence. He is a member of both the Rhode Island Radio and Television and the City of Pawtucket Halls of Fame. He was born and raised in Pawtucket.

Jen Brien has over 20 years of radio broadcast experience having hosted shows on WPRO and WHJJ with Ron as well as her own shows on WRKO and WBZ in Boston, WXTK on Cape Cod and WHAM in Rochester, New York. Jen was born and raised in Woonsocket and served six years in the Army MP Canine Unit.

Hazel, Ron’s dog, makes regular appearances.

“Ron and Jen’s Great Escape” podcast, a more lighthearted look at the events happening around us, can be found on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts, with new episodes premiering each Wednesday and listen to Ron and Jen’s Great Escape on NewsRadio 920 and 104-7 FM, Saturday morning, 7am!